5 Things to Do in Pisa Besides Climbing the Leaning Tower

The city of Pisa Italy is famous the world over for its Leaning Tower but there's much more to the city. Here are some other things to do in Pisa:
1. Be sure to visit the Duomo and Baptistery next to the tower. Leave extra time (a few hours) to visit Pisa's stunning cathedral as well as the largest baptistery in Italy.
2. Also leave time to go into Museo dell’Opera del Duomo. This museum is where much of the art that was formerly in the cathedral is now housed. See Giovanni Pisano's ivory carving of the Madonna and Child carved for the cathedral's ...

Things to See in Alberobello

When you travel to Italy, there might be a lot of places that you would want to visit. One destination that definitely calls for a place in your travel itinerary is - Alberobello. Located in the southern part of Italy, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site that is known for its exceptional style of building called Trulli.
Trullis are nothing but limestone houses with dry stone walls and conical roof that are known for their mortarless construction. The reason behind these pre-historic buildings was to escape from paying taxes. When the king’s tax collector came to collect taxes, the owner ...

Where To Stay in Rome: The Rose Garden Palace Hotel

One of my favorite hotels in Rome is the Rose Garden Palace Hotel. Just off the famous Via Veneto, and a stone’s throw from the American Embassy, it enjoys one of the best locations in the city. The hotel is partly owned by Steve Perillo, the third generation owner of Perillo Tours, the world’s largest tour operator to Italy. Perillo and his Italian partner bought this 19th-century building in 1998 and named it after the rose bushes in the courtyard.
One might expect a hotel owned by a tour company to seem impersonal or ...

Geppy Sferra’s new gelato-themed restaurant stands out from the 1,400 other gelaterias in Rome: It is the only one to serve a full dinner menu, with gelato incorporated into each dish. Gelateria d’Essai, in Rome’s Centocelle neighborhood, employs chef Marco Mezzaroma to invent creati...

A replica of the south door of the Baptistery at Florence’s Duomo was unveiled and blessed by Cardinal Giuseppe Betori on June 24, the feast day of John the Baptist, patron saint of Florence. For conservation purposes, the replica has replaced the 700-year-old original, which is curren...

A joint 2026 Winter Olympics bid by the cities of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo won the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) vote to host Italy’s third edition of the event, beating the other finalist, Sweden, by a margin of 47 to 34 votes. Italy previously hosted the Winter Olympic...

In March of this year, the EU passed a law to ban single-use plastics like plates, utensils and bottles by 2021. In the meantime, the effects of these plastics are felt by those who live and work in and around the Mediterranean Sea. Off the coast of Italy’s San Benedetto del Tronto i...

Modern technology gives us a closer look at 400 years of Bologna’s history held in the Sala Urbana of the Palazzo d’Accursio. Thanks to a new website, it is possible to discover the wonders of the intricately painted walls and ceilings from your own computer or from computers within th...

A deadly disease is ravaging Italy’s olive trees unchecked, killing one million trees in Italy and potentially threatening millions more throughout Europe. Scientists first discovered the bacteria, Xylella fastidiosa, in 2013, when ancient olive trees in Puglia started dying—one millio...

In a 10th-century castle in northwest Italy’s Piedmont region, wine enthusiasts can get a taste of the area’s incredibly famous wine and its history. The Barolo Wine Museum (WiMu) is dedicated to the historical and cultural significance and evolution of wine consumption across Europe,...

Gucci will pay 1.6 million euros to fund the two-year restoration of Tarpeian Rock in Rome which badly eroded last year. The project, a partnership between Gucci and the Capitoline Superintendency, is called “Tarpeian Rock, Between Legend and Future.”
The Tarpeian Rock is located on...

I’m Steve Perillo of Perillo Tours. I'm thrilled to host a video series called Steve's Travel Tips to share all the insider Italy travel tips I have learned over a lifetime of travel to Italy.
Did you know that in 1988 my dad built our world headquarter in New Jersey to resemble an It...

Visitors can approach the Amalfi Coast in different ways to gain different perspectives on the mountainous coastline: by sea, by land and, soon, by soaring through the air on a new 650-meter (2,132-foot, or 0.4-mile) zipline.
The zipline is currently being installed in the gorge between...